密歇根新闻广播 汤姆·伦纳德提出了心理健康改革的关键

As part of Michigan Radio's ongoing¹ election coverage², Morning Edition and Stateside are featuring interviews with candidates hoping to be the next attorney general.

Republican candidate Tom Leonard is currently the speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives. He has also served in the Genesee County Prosecutor³'s Office and as the state's assistant attorney general.

On mental health reform

DOUG TRIBOU: You've made mental health reform a key issue in your campaign. In Genesee County, you worked in the state's first mental health court. In the House, you created a task force to improve mental health treatment in the state. What would you do as attorney general?

TOM LEONARD: My first job out of law school, I had the opportunity to clerk for the probate judge in Genesse County – her name is Jenny Barkey – and she started this mental health court to get people treatment when they need treatment versus⁴ being in prison. When you look at our jails and our prisons, they shouldn't be for sick people, they should be for dangerous people.

When I became speaker of the House, I began to look at our corrections budget. Right now we spend nearly $2 billion per year to incarcerate⁵ nearly 40,000 individuals, but what a lot of people don't know is the fact that nearly 25% of our prison population suffers from some type of mental illness. I want to ensure that we're working with our local prosecutors⁶ to ensure that there's never an excuse not to have a treatment court in their county or expand them because they don't have bodies in the courtroom. If one of our local prosecutors is struggling doing that, I'm going to make certain that we get somebody in there to help them.

On Line 5

TRIBOU: Yesterday we spoke⁷ to Dana Nessel. She said she would file an injunction to shut down Line 5 based on the idea that Enbridge Energy's oil and gas pipeline⁸ has violated its easement with the state. What would you do about Line 5 as attorney general?

LEONARD: I have been working on this with the governor over the past year and we have obtained real results. It was announced a couple of weeks ago that Enbridge was going to be on the hook to pay the full $400 million to build a tunnel that's going to keep our Great Lakes safe, but when you look at that position of just shut it down, that is very, very dangerous.

The one thing that she fails to mention is that tens of thousands of our Michiganders and our residents in the Upper Peninsula actually draw their propane off of that line. I want to see real results to protect our Great Lakes. I don't want to come in with just political talking points that would essentially⁹, if you were to adopt her plan, would tell tens of thousands of residents in the Upper Peninsula that they're going to have no way of heating their homes this January. That is wrong. That is dangerous and that is not the right position that we ought to have.

On recreational marijuana

TRIBOU: One of the ballot¹⁰ questions that will be decided¹¹ November 6 would legalize recreational marijuana if it passes. You've said that you're personally against legalization. How would you deal with that conflict?

LEONARD: The office is not about what my personal political views are. The office isabout enforcing the laws as written by the legislature, or in this case the people of the state of Michigan. If it passes, it will be upheld and it will be enforced.

TRIBOU: What are your concerns as a former prosecutor about legalization of marijuana?What led you to be against that?

LEONARD: Well just talking to individuals from Colorado, for instance since the legalization of marijuana passed there, homeowners insurance rates are on the rise, auto¹² insurance rates are on the rise, and we know the last thing we need in the state of Michigan is increased auto insurance rates here in our state.

On the Elliott Larsen Act

TRIBOU: The Elliott Larsen Act is the civil rights act thats passed in Michigan in the 1970s. The Michigan Civil Rights Commission announced it would begin treating LBGTQ people as a protected group under the act – following guidance from federal courts who have said that discrimination against that community would qualify as sex discrimination. After the Commission announced it plans, you were one of the people who asked current attorney general, Bill Schuette, to give an opinion. He opposed giving LGBTQ people protections. Why did you ask for that opinion and where do you stand on that issue?

LEONARD: Let me be clear, discrimination is wrong. Nobody should be denied housing, or anything else as a result of their orientation¹³. However, when you look at what the Civil Rights Commission did, I believe that they overstepped their constitutional authority. If it's going to be expanded, it ought to be the role of the legislature, not a commission of unelected bureaucrats¹⁴.

TRIBOU: But you did not introduced legislation that would have offered those protections to that part of the Michigan community.

LEONARD: No, and I've been very clear again, discrimination is wrong under any circumstance. However, we also have religious rights and religious liberties here in the state of Michigan, and I've not seen anybody willing to come to the table to have a serious conversation about how to balance those two rights. And until we do, it would be very difficult for me to support it.

TRIBOU: Well I have to ask you to expand on that because I hear what you're saying about religion and the LGBTQ, you're sort of equating¹⁵ those, but how does the discrimination against LGBT person conflict with religion in terms of housing, employment, that sort of thing?

LEONARD: Look at the example that we always talk about in terms of the restaurant owner who also has a catering¹⁶ service. A restaurant owner should never be able to tell somebody that they can't come into their restaurant because of their sexual orientation. However, if the person is asked to bake a cake, or perform something as a part of a religious ceremony that would contradict their sincerely held religious beliefs. Those sincerely held religious beliefs ought to be protected.

TRIBOU: Recently, the state Supreme¹⁷ Court heard arguments about the people who were wrongly accused of filing false unemployment claims. Now you have the state, which says it's paid back the bulk of the money that was improperly¹⁸ garnished¹⁹, pushing against a class action lawsuit²⁰ on a technicality of when it was filed. And that's what the arguments hinged on. How do you see that sort of thing where we know these people were wrongly accused, and then there's this push back from the state?

LEONARD: There is no doubt that these people were wronged, and they ought to made whole. I'd have to look at the exact legal argument the attorney general has raised, but what I do know is the attorney general does have an obligation to represent the state of Michigan. So, you can't fault represent the attorney general for representing the state. However, if the attorney general has a different opinion, or they want to take an opposite position on behalf of the people. Then what the proper measure would be, would be to assign an assistant to represent the state or the department, and then also assign a different assistant to represent the people. And what they would do is they would put a conflict wall up within the office so that those two assistants could not talk and essentially what would happen is the attorney general would make certain that each side was properly receiving representation.

CORRECTION: In an earlier version of this story, Mr. Leonard is quoted as saying traffic fatalities²¹ increased 150% in Colorado after marijuana was legalized. That is incorrect.

From 2013-16, Colorado saw a 40% increase in fatal crashes, from 627 to 880. We believe what Leonard meant is that the number of drivers involved in fatal crashes who tested positive for marijuana use was up 145% from 47 in 2013 to 115 in 2016.

1 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

2 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

3 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

4 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

5 incarcerate   

v.监禁，禁闭

参考例句：

• Why do you incarcerate yourself in the room every afternoon?你为何每天下午将自己关在房间里？
• Many people think that it is wrong to incarcerate criminals in confined quarters for as long as thirty years.很多人认为把罪犯监禁在禁闭营里达30年之久是不对的。

6 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

9 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

10 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

12 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

13 orientation   

n.方向，目标；熟悉，适应，情况介绍

参考例句：

• Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
• The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。

14 bureaucrats   

n.官僚( bureaucrat的名词复数 )；官僚主义；官僚主义者；官僚语言

参考例句：

• That is the fate of the bureaucrats, not the inspiration of statesmen. 那是官僚主义者的命运，而不是政治家的灵感。 来自辞典例句
• Big business and dozens of anonymous bureaucrats have as much power as Japan's top elected leaders. 大企业和许多不知名的官僚同日本选举出来的最高层领导者们的权力一样大。 来自辞典例句

15 equating   

v.认为某事物（与另一事物）相等或相仿( equate的现在分词 )；相当于；等于；把（一事物） 和（另一事物）等同看待

参考例句：

• [ Ray ] I definitely started equating crossword puzzles with songwriting. 我已经干脆开始把字谜游戏等同于歌曲写作了。 来自电影对白
• But they have a hard time equating plural marriage with those evils. 但是他们很难把这种多妻婚姻与上面说的那些坏事联系起来。 来自互联网

16 catering   

n. 给养

参考例句：

• Most of our work now involves catering for weddings. 我们现在的工作多半是承办婚宴。
• Who did the catering for your son's wedding? 你儿子的婚宴是由谁承办的？

17 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

18 improperly   

不正确地，不适当地

参考例句：

• Of course it was acting improperly. 这样做就是不对嘛！
• He is trying to improperly influence a witness. 他在试图误导证人。

19 garnished   

v.给（上餐桌的食物）加装饰( garnish的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her robes were garnished with gems. 她的礼服上装饰着宝石。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Serve the dish garnished with wedges of lime. 给这道菜配上几角酸橙。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

21 fatalities   

n.恶性事故( fatality的名词复数 )；死亡；致命性；命运

参考例句：

• Several people were injured, but there were no fatalities. 有几个人受伤，但没有人死亡。
• The accident resulted in fatalities. 那宗意外道致多人死亡。 来自《简明英汉词典》